


Haircuts

by tabbykats



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Fluff, Haircuts, Hogwarts, Humor, M/M, Marauders, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), The Marauder's Map
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:27:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23858329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tabbykats/pseuds/tabbykats
Summary: A short fic based on a Tumblr post about Remus with an undercut and Sirius with his hair in a bun.
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 6
Kudos: 92





	1. Sirius with a bun

Sweltering, hot sun blazed down on agitated students. 

Though it was September, the sun did not wish to stop shining. Hogwarts became home to tired students and irritated teachers. Students had to still wear their robes during classes and no amount of charms and spells was enough to lower the temperature.   
Sirius really felt the heat. James and Peter had it easy with their shorter hair. His, however, was long and reached down his neck.   
He wasn’t Snivellus, who seemed to be the only one to be able to stand the hot sun. With such a surge of heat, his animagus had become a “flea-infested mutt” according to Remus. Sadly, Remus was right.  
He was scratching his hair, combing fingers through it, and just felt like shit overall. James wasn’t helping.  
“Pads, What should the scale be? Do we need a scale?” Sirius lay his head flat on his desk and groaned. 

Recently, they had been working on a map of Hogwarts. Something that could track every person on school grounds. Unfortunately, with a surplus of homework and one too many idiots in their group, it wasn’t coming along as well as they hoped. 

“Just shut up and start drawing the whomping willow or something! I don’t know!” James sighed.  
“Well, you’re no help” James turned to Peter, sitting in the seat in front. Sirius watched as James asked the same question only for Peter to shrug.  
.  
Today had been extremely slow. He was bored out of his mind and so was their teacher. He was starting to nod off when a book slammed onto his desk.  
“Merlin! What the-”  
“I would not finish that sentence, Mr. Black, unless you want a week’s worth of detention." Sirius refrained from rolling his eyes and nodded, apologizing. Beside him, James was snickering. Sirius made a remarkably rude gesture with his hand before flipping to the correct page. 

They were learning about nocturnal beasts, werewolves to be precise. Remus wasn’t present for class today. Having a particularly hard moon, Sirius had forced him to stay in bed with the promise of taking notes for him. Remus had reluctantly agreed, shuffling back under the covers after Lily finished bandaging his arm. 

The scars from this moon were quite awful despite Sirius running with him. Weeks ago, he, James, and Peter had broken into McGonagall’s office in search of notes on animagi. It took him a long while but he had managed to transform into a mangy black dog. He wasn’t proud of it but he wanted to desperately help his friend any way he could, even if it left him in scorching heat with fleas. 

“Mr. Black, if you could please stand and read the following text?” Grumbling, Sirius stood up.  
This was going to be a long day. 

Dinner was the only decent part of his day as it turned out. James and Peter were busy reenacting a muggle play Remus had told them about. One that was to “swoon Evans for sure” as James had put it. 

As Sirius looked to the other end of the Gryffindor table, Sirius could see that Remus had definitely set them up. Either that or James’ “legendary acting skills” were nothing more than a myth. 

Lily Evans had her face stuffed in a book as usual. Her ears were a bright red as she turned away from James. Yeah, James definitely sucked at acting. That had to be it. 

Sirius picked up a platter of drumsticks and sandwiches before pulling James’ invisibility cloak over it. 

He made his way to the dorms where a very tired Remus Lupin lay. His eyes were barely open, already falling back asleep after hours-long naps. 

“Moony, I got something for ya." Slowly, Remus opened his eyes. He gave Sirius a soft smile before sitting up and accepting the platter.  
“Thank you Pads, I’m starving." Sirius went to sit by Remus. He watched the boy eat, holding the edge of the large platter so it wouldn’t fall. 

Sirius knew he shouldn’t but he loved sitting with Remus after a full moon. The boy always gave him sleepy soft smiles and would listen to Sirius’s stories of the day before falling asleep. 

Sirius told him about the act James had put on in the great hall and that had Remus burst with laughter, almost dropping his drumstick. 

“All I said to him was that Lily was a fan of the play, not for him to go and give a show in front of the whole school.” Remus chuckled. Sirius smiled, placing a half-empty platter of food on the bedside.  
“Damn, Moony, I thought you set him up on purpose." Remus clutched his stomach laughing.  
“No, I’d never." 

They talked until James and Peter came stumbling into the room with red faces. One look at the boys had Sirius and Remus laughing all over again. And even after James and Peter had gone to bed, Sirius still remained by Remus’s side, shifting hair away from his sleeping face. Honestly, his tawny hair was much too long but Remus still refused to cut it. Sirius liked it though, gave him an excuse to touch him. 

Next morning brought an onslaught of heavy heat and high humidity. Sirius awoke to James trying to fix his crooked tie, moving unruly air away from his forehead. Peter was next to him casting every cooling charm he knew. Sirius looked to his side to see Remus sleeping peacefully against him. They had talked and laughed and joked together until the very early hours of the morning.  
“He alright to go to class today?” Sirius swept away sandy hair from Remus’ eyes.  
“I don’t know Prongs, Lily said he should be better by toady and his wounds have healed up but he’s still really tired."  
James leaned over to pull his blanket down just slightly. “Don’t want him overheating,” he muttered.  
Sirius stood up to find his robes. He draped it over his shoulder and was about to head out when he felt something tug at his hair.  
“Honestly Sirius, you’re going to die from the heat." Sirius tried to shove James off but failed.  
“C’mon, Lily might have a hair tie you can borrow." Sirius groaned as he was dragged over to commons.

Lily Evans was sat on the sofa by the now-empty fireplace, flipping through a book. Upon seeing James, her cheeks turned slightly red but her expression was one of annoyance.  
“Hi Lils, you have a tie Sirius can borrow?” She took a second to rummage through her robes before finding a red one.  
“Turn around Sirius, I’ll do it for you." Sirius rolled his eyes but turned around anyway. She put his hair in a bun before turning to James and muttering “pratt” before heading off.  
James's eyes seemed to shimmer with hearts and Sirius rolled his eyes as they followed Evans’ lead. 

The dining hall was packed with tired and overheated students. Some groaning about the heat, others stuffing their faces like James. Lily was sitting beside him, drinking her juice while flipping through the pages of another book.  
Sirius looked around for Peter but he couldn’t find him.  
“Probably gone to get breakfast for Remus,” James said, face stuffed with scrambled egg.  
“Yeah, probably." Sirius went back to sipping his orange juice but almost choked. Remus and Peter were heading their way.  
“Oh, I guess Moony felt alright after all.” James commented.  
“I guess so.” Lily chimed in.

Sirius turned back to his breakfast, fish fingers still filling up his plate. He felt Remus sit beside him and heard a small gasp. Sirius turned to see Remus’s red face.  
“What’s the matter?” Remus didn’t answer and instead tuck off running, leaving Sirius confused.  
“What was that all about?” James chortled, Peter at his side trying to prevent him from falling over.  
“Such an idiot you are Pads."  
“What?”


	2. Remus with an undercut

“Remus! Pay attention!” Remus snapped back to the fiery redhead a couple feet in front of him. 

They were assigned a little extra homework from their arithmancy class since their teacher just loved collective punishment. Really, James and Sirius should've gotten the extra five inches to write for their shenanigans. Even now, the two were chatting away by the fireplace probably planning their next prank. 

“Honestly Remus, just ask him out." Remus blushed bright red and turned to Lily.  
“It’s not like that Lily, I’m cross because of the extra homework." She hummed, not believing the obvious lie and got back to writing her sentence.  
“You’re full of shit Remus and you know it. Even James wasn’t this bad in the beginning." Remus chuckled.  
“Yeah, he was way worse. Remember that time in the dining hall he tried to reenact that awful muggle play for you." She rubbed the bridge of her nose in irritation.  
“God don’t remind me, I’ve never been able to go back to read that book again." Remus giggled and got back to his work. 

Putting quill to parchment, he realized he was running low on ideas and still had another inch to go before finishing. He reached over for his text book only for his hair to fall into his eyes. It had been doing that a lot lately and it was getting annoying. He cursed, pushing it back only for it to fall back into place. 

“Why not just cut it?” Lily questioned.  
“Cause my Mum would kill me." Lily gave Remus that sly smile which had been making more of an appearance ever since hanging around the marauders.  
“We’re at Hogwarts, you’re Mum won’t find out unless you write about it in your letters plus it’ll grow before the year ends.” Remus nodded, considering the idea. He was still hesitant. He didn’t even know the first thing about hair.  
“I don’t know Lily, I’ve never cut my hair before." She gave a small chuckle and her eyes shined brightly.  
“I’ll cut it for you, don’t worry I know what to do." He was still reluctant to act on the idea. 

“Oi Moony! Mind writing the rest of my paper?” Remus turned to glare at Sirius as he sat with James by the fire. Peter had joined them now as well, his face shoved in a book.  
“What’s in it for me Pads?”. Sirius acted as if he was giving the idea some thought before answering.  
“I’ll let you use my hair gel, Merlin knows your hair could use it!” he laughed and James joined it. 

Grumbling, Remus turned to Lily. “Alright, I’m in.* Lily smirked.

****

“Are you sure Lily?” The girl nodded, patting down the sides of his head and ruffling the strands at the top.  
“I’m telling you, you look great with an undercut. All the boys in Gryffindor will be jealous no doubt about it." Remus gulped, nodding. 

She had dragged him into the bathroom. Something that left James scowling by the fire in the Gryffindor commons. Though she acted like she knew what she was doing, Remus wasn’t so sure. Clumps of his tawny hair lay on the ground below him. What if she had cut too much? What if it looked bad? What would he do then?

She ruffled the top curls some more before looking at him and smiling. “Perfect,” she said before shoving a handheld mirror in his face. 

The reflection looking back at him looked nothing like him. The guy in the mirror looked confident, something he definitely wasn’t. He didn’t look as if he hid behind books, pining for a boy that never even glanced his way. This boy looked as if he was the one everyone sought after. He was the center of attention at parties and the ones cracking jokes. This reflection was everything he wanted to be. 

He smiled at the reflection. It gave him a boost of confidence and more importantly, his hair no longer fell into his face. He beamed at Lily. The fiery redhead had done a good job.  
He pulled her into a hug, thanking her before walking to the boy’s dorms with pride. 

When he walked in, Peter was snoring softly in bed while James and Sirius were at the table, marauders' map laid out. 

James was the first to notice him. He gave Remus a blank look before grinning, a twinkle in his eyes. “Oi, Sirius, check it out." He nudged Sirius who had been carefully measuring something with a compass.  
“What the hell Prongs!” Sirius looked up from what he was doing to see Remus. Remus grew hot under their gaze. He rubbed the back of his neck, avoiding looking at Sirius.  
“You lot like it? Lily did it for me." James was nodding, his grin stretching from ear to ear.  
“Hey Pads, you heard him, what d’ya think?” Sirius had been stupidly staring at him for a while now, his mouth hanging open. James laughed as he went to lightly smack Sirius’s cheek.  
“Mate, you still there?” he asked, waving his hand in front of his face. Sirius snapped out of his daze, flicking James’ arm out the way.  
“Oh um y-yeah Moons, uh Remus, you look brilliant." Sirius suddenly turned away walking out the dorms. As he walked out, Remus swore he could see a bit of red on the boy’s face. What was all that about?  
James continued to chortle, leaning back in his chair before falling out of his seat. Peter woke up from the noise bleary-eyed, commented on Remus’s haircut before going back to snoring. 

Honestly, what weird friends he had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment for a third chapter


	3. Confessions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rated T for some cursing

All day, Sirius had avoided Remus. He couldn’t help it. Every time he looked at his wolfish friend, he couldn’t help but blush. Who knew Moony would look that good with an undercut. 

Now, he had his face stuck in his potions book, James sniggering beside him. Remus was taking a shower and Peter was studying with Lily to get his grades in Astronomy up. 

“You gotta tell him some time Pads." Sirius shifted to his side, desperately trying to ignore him.  
“Poor lovesick puppy." Sirius turned to hit James with his book when a voice interrupted them.  
“What’s going on here then?” Sirius looked up at Remus. Just out the shower with wet hair was a really good look for him. Sirius couldn’t take his eyes off him as he went to go and dry it. Ruffling his tawny fringe as he finished. 

“Nothing Moony, just giving Sirius here a little love-”. Sirius cut James off with a resounding smack of his book against his chest. 

Without looking at Remus again, he answered. “Nothing Remus, go get some sleep." Sirius turned in his bed to put his book away. James got up, giving him a smirk before leaving the dorms.  
“I got some catching up to do with Lily. Transfiguration is a very important subject after all.” he said before shutting the door, leaving the two of them alone.  
“Does he know they’re studying Astronomy?” Sirius closed his eyes and shook his head as he laid into bed.  
His heart was racing a mile a minute.  
“Sirius?” Sirius slowly opened his eyes. Remus was wearing another one of his baggy sweaters, this one, in a red color. He sat at the edge of James’ bed giving him a worried look.  
“Is everything okay?” Sirius shifted his eyes to the ceiling.  
“Of course Moony, why wouldn’t everything be okay?” 

Remus shook his head, sighing. He looked so sad. His shoulders looked so tense. Sirius wanted to reach out, brush his cheek, finally get to touch that tawny hair.  
“I just feel like you’ve been...a-avoiding me." Sirius kept his eyes on the ceiling. 

“Just go to bed, Moony." Sirius turned to his side and closed his eyes but then he heard quiet sniffling. Sirius shot up out of bed and turned back to Remus.

The boy was wiping furiously at his eyes with the ends of his wooly red sweater. 

“I-I’m sorry Sirius. I’m sorry if I did anything. I’m sorry if me being a werewolf scares you, I just want us to go back to being friends. So please just tell me what I did wrong and I swear I won’t do it again." 

Sirius could feel his heart shattering at the sight. How could he have done this to his friend? To Remus of all people?

Sirius stretched out his arm and gripped onto Remus, dragging him into his lap. He didn’t say anything for a while, he just wanted Remus to calm down before he spoke. 

He finally brushed his hand through that tawny hair. He held Remus to his chest and rubbed his back. Remus lay against Sirius, listening to his heartbeat and following his breaths. 

“You did nothing wrong, Moony." Remus looked up at Sirius.  
“Then why?”  
“Because I’m a prick and a twat and a lovesick pup”. Remus’s brows furrowed in confusion and Sirius laughed lightly. 

“I love your hair, Moony." Remus placed both of his hands against his chest, pulling away.  
“Thank you but what’s that got to do with anything?” Sirius let his hand run through that hair to finally rest on his cheek. He wiped away the remaining tears and chuckled at the light blush underneath them. 

“It’s cute that you don’t know how hot you are." Remus’s eyes widened and his face reddened.  
“W-what." Sirius swept him up in another tight hug, resting his chin on his head.  
“I love you, Moons. Always have."

Remus went silent, frozen to where he was against Sirius’s chest. Sirius closed his eyes and continued. 

“I love your stupid woolen sweaters and how you always say I smell like a wet dog. I know I shouldn’t but I enjoy bandaging you up after a full moon cause you look so cute in bed. I love how you always drag all of us marauders into the library to study before a test and you twirl your hair in your fingers or chew on your pen when you’re concentrating. I love how you always smell like Honeydukes chocolate and books. I love running with you during the full moon and I love caring for you after. I love you Remus, werewolf, or not. You could never scare me cause you’ve always been the shy boy in the corner wearing baggy sweaters with his nose stuffed in a book. I love your dumb hair even before you got it cut and you don’t know how you drive me mad. You don’t know how much I’ve wanted to just hold you like this. You don’t know how much I love you." 

Sirius breathed in a shaky breath before opening his eyes and glancing down at the werewolf tucked in his arms. Remus’s face was once again wet with tears. Sirius felt sick. 

“I’m so sorry Moony, I-” He was cut off with a soft kiss. It was messy but it was also really sweet like the chocolate he’d buy after a full moon. It was perfect in the way Remus would curl up by the fireplace to read a book.They broke apart and Sirius couldn’t wipe the grin off his face. Remus smiled, nuzzling his face into his chest to hide his blush. 

“I love you too Pads even if you annoy me and you smell like a wet dog." Sirius chuckled. “I love how you always order firewhiskey wherever you go and how you run with me during the full moon. I love it when you mess with your hair, I think it’s really cute. I love how you always make sure to write your notes carefully so I can read them. I love it when you wear your leather jacket whenever we go to Hogsmeade even when it’s really cold. I know you do it as a joke but I love it when you pull out a seat for me before sitting down yourself. I know you pretend to struggle with homework because you just want attention and I love it when you draw on the edge of my notes. You annoy me to death but I still love you, Sirius and I don’t know why." Remus giggled and Sirius kissed the top of his head.

Remus turned his head, looking up at Sirius. “I also like it when you wear your hair up." He blushed. “I think it makes you look-”. He trailed off.  
“Hot?” Sirius suggested. Remus punched his chest as he laughed.  
“I hate you,” Remus declared, nuzzling into Sirius’s chest again.  
“That confession a moment ago says otherwise”. Both boys turned to see James, Peter, and Lily smiling at them.  
“How long have you assholes been spying on us?” Sirius asked. James smirked.  
“I guess we’ll never know”. James turned around and Remus managed to get a headshot as he walked away. 

“That’s my Moony!” Sirius cheered as James shrieked.


End file.
